Harry Potter had made it up to the third floor before he heard Snape behind him - it was just the whisper of sound, but he heard it, seconds before Snape spoke, "Mister Potter." It was probably that early warning that kept Harry from jumping through the roof... or pissing himself.

Just the person he hadn't wanted to see. Not yet. He'd wanted to be back in the Gryffindor Common Room, with people who could vouch for him. Even if they might not, the spectre of them vouching for him was worth something.

"The Headmaster has requested your presence in his office." Snape said, and left it at that. Harry tried to calm himself down, breathing through his nose, very, very slowly. Like unspooling and then respooling a spindle of thread. In, in in, until he felt like he'd pass out, and then out out out out, until his lungs burned.

Snape hadn't waited for a response, and had just strode past Harry, who jerked into motion as he saw Snape's black robes halfway up the stairs.

Harry Potter insisted, darkly, to himself, that he was not about to get expelled. He was their Savior, he was Famous, he was not about to get Expelled. He wasn't sure quite what he'd done - or more particularly: how bad what he'd done was. And that was a problem he intended to rectify at the earliest possible moment. Which, might very well be after he graduated from Hogwarts. There were eyes everywhere, here, and he didn't want this to be tracked back on him.

All the moreso if Snape, of all sneaky, sly, underhanded people, were watching.

Snape muttered, "Cockroach Clusters" to a gargoyle, as Harry trotted to keep up with the tall man's long legs. So unfair that he got to be so tall. And did he really just say Cockroach Clusters? What sort of a ... passcode was that?

Snape hurried up the spiral staircase - Harry on his heels, and flung open the door to the Headmaster's office so hard that it shook-

Rather a lot of things, actually.

Harry clean forgot to enter, he was so busy staring at everything. And there were a lot of whizbang dowidgets. By the time his eyes had turned to Dumbledore, they saw a genial old man, who said to him, "Come in, come in! We have a few questions for you about a sixth year Slytherin."

Harry's eyes kept turning, finding first Snape, looking dark in a dark corner (It was fast becoming apparent why people would refer to him as a bat, as he'd chosen the darkest place to stand, and in black robes, no less).

Minerva McGonagall was sitting in a chair - not standing as Snape was, and had her lips pursed. "Sit down, Harry," she said pleasantly.

"Albus, I can't see why you insist on bringing Gryffindors into your office, as if asking them is going to get you any semblance of truth!" Snape exploded.

"Now, Severus Snape, you know why Harry's here." Minerva McGonagall said, "He's here because you lack any more credible suspects."

"Still! I'd rather assume that a dotty Ravenclaw accidentally spilled the potion than blame one of my first year potions students." Snape snarled, "Harry Bloody Potter, your fame isn't helping you today," Snape had a rather fearsome smile on his face, and Harry, who at last seated himself, merely nodded.

"What's happened, sir?" Harry Potter asked, his question directed - at least nominally - towards the Headmaster.

"One of my students was caught last night in a broomcloset." Snape sneered, and Harry honestly couldn't have told whether it was at him or at the student. "This wasn't the first time she's been in a broom closet either."

"She's hardly the first loosey goosey we've had, Severus," Prof McGonagall said.

"She is the first pureblood scion to be in broomclosets with half a dozen young men. And to have been seen, openly, staring at them lovingly in the Great Hall." Snape snapped, "Her reputation is soiled beyond repair. Her family may well disown her..." Snape hissed, "This is an outrage, and I won't stand for it."

The Headmaster said, calmingly, "Nor should you, Professor." Oddly, or perhaps not that oddly, Snape looked more outraged, not less. "But first, we do need to find the culprit."

Harry suddenly remembered the reputation that Dumbledore and Snape had for reading minds. He lifted his eyes up to Dumbledore's beard, and looked at it, as the headmaster asked him, "Did you have anything to do with this, Harry? Tell the truth."

"No, sir." Harry Potter said.

"Obviously," Snape sneered, looking smug. "Why ANYONE would think that a first year Gryffindor could possibly do this?! I have no starkin' idea! It was bad enough bringing the twins in."

"No, a "prank" like this takes persistence, and planning." Snape snarled, "Ingredients that aren't kept in my stores - which have not been burgled,"

"It also takes a motive," Professor McGonagall said, "And you've failed to provide one."

Snape had started pacing behind Harry, who badly wanted to turn around and watch, rather than stare at the Headmaster. Still, he figured if he was small, and quiet, they might forget about him and let him stay.

He needed to know what they decided.

[a/n: Nope, wasn't Snape this time trying to rain blame on Harry. As to why Filius and Pomona aren't there? Eh. Obvious suspects first.

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